Final Fantasy XIV isn’t just a game.
It’s a way of life.
I know, I know, but I’m only partially joking. If you’ve never played this masterpiece of an MMORPG, then you won’t understand. But for those of us who have spent some time in the world of Eorzea and the places around it, we know that this game has a magnetism that will pull you in and eat up hundreds of hours of your life.
But like, not in a bad way.
Just like anything that takes up so much time in real life, people tend to come up with little tricks and shortcuts to cut down on tedium so you can make the most out of what you’re doing. FFXIV has its own kind of shortcuts that players use for a variety of reasons, which are called macros.
In this article, you will be presented with an overview of how macros work in FFXIV as well as some of the most popular or commonly used ones you can apply to your game. If you’re looking to blast through a ton of content to get ready for the next expansion, then macros are going to be something that will really amplify your efficiency. You might even come up with some macros of your own that you could share with the community!
Let’s get started.
FFXIV Macros: The Basics
In case you aren’t totally clear on what macros are, here’s a quick rundown:
Macros are user-defined commands that can combine a variety of actions or abilities into a single button or keypress. Some processes in FFXIV or other games like it require a lot of repetition or tedium, and using macros has helped a bunch of MMO-obsessed gamers maintain their sanity.
Essentially, macros are mostly a quality-of-life tool provided by some games, although it is possible to use macros to gain a slight advantage in combat or gameplay. How, you ask?
You’re going to have to stick around to find out!
The FFXIV community is vast and extremely welcoming, and they also tend to share macro creations and ideas freely. This ends up helping all players, and we’ll get to those shared macros in a minute, but first let’s talk about how you actually make macros in the first place.
How to Make Macros in FFXIV
In order to make Macros in FFXIV, you need to access the User Macros Window. This can be reached by going to System, then User Macros. This window will show you all of the macros you already have and allow you to make some more.
This next part is pretty important: there are two tabs in this window - “Individual” and “Shared”. The individual tab is for macros that only apply to the character you are currently playing, while the shared tab is, well, shared across the many different characters or alts you might have. Each tab can have up to 100 macros, though you probably won’t need to make that many.
Unless you get reeeaaally into making macros.
Macros created in the User Macros Window can be clicked and dragged to your hotbar for easy access, or you can right-click and execute them right from the window. You’ll also notice the Text Commands button on the bottom right, which opens up a list of commands you can use to help you build macros. We’ll get into that more later on.
Once you select a macro, its contents will be displayed on the right side of the window. You can assign it a name up to 20 characters and assign an icon to it from a sizable list of presets. The available icons are mostly symbols or vaguely game-related pictures. You can also customize icons further by using /macroicon [action name], where “action name” is the action you’d like to use the icon for. This handy since it will also make the macro icon display the cooldown time.
Now for the important part - the body. You get 15 lines to play with per macro, which is fine in most cases. Some people who get comfortable making macros find it limiting for things like transformation and crafting, but you don’t have to get that deep. Those are sweaty players.
In those 15 lines, you’ll type out code that tells the game to activate a specific sequence of events every time that macro is triggered. We’re going to go over the different lines of codes and commands in the next section, but this is where they will all go.
The Many Different Macro Commands and How to Use Them
Chat Macros
These are pretty self-explanatory. Type up messages that you’ll want to use repeatedly, maybe a greeting or message letting people know you’re new to a role so they go easy on you. Some people also like to make silly ASCII art macros, but be careful with those. One if fine and funny, but any more than that and you’re clogging up the chat with nonsense.
Here are some chat macros:
- /say [message]: sends a customized message to all players within range
- /party [message]: sends a customized message to the players in your party, regardless of their location
Combat Macros
Setting up macros for use in combat might sound like a good idea, but it’s far from a “set it and forget it” solution. You can’t queue up macro commands, so you’ll need to be paying attention all the time anyways, and activating another macro while the animation is playing for the previous one will cause the new command to whiff. It’ll be as if you never pressed the button.
So it takes some getting used to, but it is possible to gain a slight tactical advantage with combat macros. Here are a few examples of those:
“Swift Rez” (Scholar)
/micon "Resurrection"
/macroerror off
/p I'm not dead so <t> shouldn't be either, now get up **ahem** champion of Eorzea!
/ac "Swiftcast"
/wait .5
/ac "Resurrection"
“Shield Bash” (Paladin)
/micon "Shield Bash"
/merror off
/ac "Low Blow" <t>
/ac "Shield Bash" <t>
“Heavy Swing” (Warrior)
/micon "Heavy Swing"
/merror off
/ac "Heavy Swing" <t>
/ac Tomahawk <t>
Crafting Macros
Crafting macros are a little different. Some recipes have certain player requirements in order to craft, so if you don’t have those requirements and try to use a macro for it, it’s not going to work. It’s important to pay attention to your available Crafting Points when making crafting macros for yourself or using ones others have made.
Here are a few examples of those:
35 Durability
Craftsmanship: 1988
Control Minimums:
2335 - No HQ materials
2061 - 1 HQ material
CP: 612
/ac Reflect <wait.3>
/ac Manipulation <wait.2>
/ac "Name of the Elements" <wait.2>
/ac Ingenuity <wait.2>
/ac "Brand of the Elements" <wait.3>
/ac "Brand of the Elements" <wait.3>
/ac "Delicate Synthesis" <wait.3>
/ac "Delicate Synthesis" <wait.3>
/ac "Prudent Touch" <wait.3>
/ac Ingenuity <wait.2>
/ac Innovation <wait.2>
/ac "Prudent Touch" <wait.3>
/ac "Prudent Touch" <wait.3>
/ac "Prudent Touch" <wait.3>
/echo Macro #1 finished <se.1>
/ac "Master's Mend" <wait.3>
/ac Ingenuity <wait.2>
/ac Innovation <wait.2>
/ac "Preparatory Touch" <wait.3>
/ac "Great Strides" <wait.2>
/ac "Byregot's Blessing" <wait.3>
/ac "Basic Synthesis" <wait.3>
/echo Craft finished <se.3>
70 Durability
Craftsmanship: 2173
Control: 2304 No HQ mats
2149 1 HQ mat
CP: 620
/ac Reflect <wait.3>
/ac Manipulation <wait.2>
/ac "Name of the Elements" <wait.2>
/ac Ingenuity <wait.2>
/ac "Brand of the Elements" <wait.3>
/ac "Brand of the Elements" <wait.3>
/ac "Delicate Synthesis" <wait.3>
/ac "Delicate Synthesis" <wait.3>
/ac "Prudent Touch" <wait.3>
/ac "Great Strides" <wait.2>
/ac Ingenuity <wait.2>
/ac Innovation <wait.2>
/ac "Prudent Touch" <wait.3>
/ac "Prudent Touch" <wait.3>
/echo Macro #1 finished <se.1>
/ac "Prudent Touch" <wait.3>
/ac "Prudent Touch" <wait.3>
/ac "Great Strides" <wait.2>
/ac Ingenuity <wait.2>
/ac Innovation <wait.2>
/ac "Preparatory Touch" <wait.3>
/ac "Great Strides" <wait.2>
/ac "Byregot's Blessing" <wait.3>
/ac "Careful Synthesis" <wait.3>
/echo Craft finished <se.3>
Gathering Macros
Like crafting macros, gathering macros need to be made and utilized with a similar level of caution. Completing certain gathering actions requires specific amounts of Gathering Points, which can cause a macro to fail if you don’t have enough.
Here is an example of a gathering macro:
“Red Gathering”
/ac "Discerning Eye" <wait.2>
/ac "Impulsive Appraisal II" <wait.3>
/ac "Discerning Eye"
/ac "Single Mind" <wait.2>
/ac "Impulsive Appraisal II" <wait.3>
/ac "Discerning Eye"
/ac "Single Mind" <wait.2>
/ac "Methodical Appraisal" <wait.3>
This information should be enough to get you started on your FFXIV automation journey. We hope this information makes things go a little smoother for you, but keep in mind that the FFXIV community is usually willing to help new players along, so don’t be afraid to reach out!
Take care, and keep an eye out for more awesome content just like this right here on the Geeky Inc. blog!
